Nostalgia & History > West Colton's famous loop

One of SP's famous haulers heads west back in 1975.

Adam

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Cool shot...

JG

That's ALOT of SP boxcars!!

All those long empty flats close to the head end like that is asking for trouble.

        Apparently not, it didn't derail.

coach Wrote:
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> That's ALOT of SP boxcars!!

One of those things you don't miss until it's gone.

coach Wrote:
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> That's ALOT of SP boxcars!!

One thing is for sure is that the SP had a large number of boxcars and from trackside observations out east, they travelled far and wide. I'd say there was no question they had more company boxcars than the UP did. What was the reason for that? My guess is that the SP served more of the Pacific Northwest where lumber traffic originated and that lumber was shipped in boxcars and was sent nationwide?
Anyone else care to speculate?

Posted from Android

SP served lots of cities and towns.  

UP was always more of a point to point operation.  Where it had branch line trackage (Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah) there wasn't as much industry or agriculture as, for instance, the Central Velley of California.  UP began in Omaha, which was west of almost all of the cropland in the midwest.  And probably factories and things, too.  While SP's eastern parts were in Texas and Louisiana, a much more industrial-dense place than Nebraska.  UP entered the Pacific Northwest in the Columbia River Gorge, which hardly covers any timber of interest, while, as you mentioned, SP covered the Willamette Valley and Cascades/Coast Range every which way and backwards.  

If you looked up tons of materials originated somewhere on the railroad, SP was probably way ahead of the UP, but the UP would have much longer average transit distances of each ton hauled?  

Just a guess, 

Nice boxcar shot!  
https://goo.gl/maps/g5ZSh36RfsRE1vZQ6
https://www.topozone.com/map/?lat=34.0687&lon=-117.35570
https://opentopomap.org/#map=15/34.06565/-117.35508

Ted in OR

Who was the photographer?

Posted from Android

Flatcars or not, that loop always looks like a problem about to happen. Frankly it wasn't much of a problem, I only recall one, maybe two stringlined trains reported there.
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